Duchy College student gets an invite to 10 Downing Street

Published: July 4, 2016

An inspirational student from Duchy College Stoke Climsland is continuing to prove that the bullies will never win, after she received a personal invite to 10 Downing Street.

Nikita Bawden, who has been studying childcare at Duchy College, was invited by Samantha Cameron because of her work with Childline and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The 17 year old became involved with the charities a year ago after being bullied at school. She now writes for ChildLine’s First News newspaper and for its website.

Nikita said: “Being invited to Downing Street was such an honour; I never thought that a person like me would have the chance to go to somewhere like that.”

Nikita was one of a number of young adults invited to Downing Street for similar reasons. She was met by Piers Morgan, Samantha Cameron, actor James Norton (Happy Valley, Grantchester and War and Peace) and Dame Esther Rantzen.

Nikita continued: “Whilst we were there, I got introduced to some important people high up in the NSPCC, including some celebrities and they explained their role and asked me how I’m involved; everyone was so lovely!

“There were also people from companies such as Harrods and the Guardian. We also had Samantha Cameron who is such a lovely woman and we discussed things such as what it was like to be on the Bake Off.”

Nikita has just finished a BTEC in Children’s Play, Learning and Development at Duchy College and will be returning in September to the college to start a degree on Children and Young Peoples Workforce. Her ambition is to one day work at the NSPCC’s headquarters in London.

She concluded: “I was one of the two people who had the opportunity to go to this event and we got chosen by being picked out of a hat, so I feel so lucky and grateful for this opportunity.”

Team Lead for Early Years at Duchy College, Laetitia Mayne, said: “I am really delighted for Nikita; she is a real inspiration to her fellow students and to the staff here at Duchy College. She has taken a negative and turned it into something extremely positive and now she is helping other young people, not just in Cornwall, but across the country.”